


Short-sighted

by ancestrallizard



Category: Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei Series
Genre: Gen, takeshi's poor life choices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancestrallizard/pseuds/ancestrallizard
Summary: Takeshi is frustrated with losing. Obviously demon fusion is the solution.





	Short-sighted

**Author's Note:**

> Made based on a sentence prompt from tumblr, "Don't fucking touch me"

Takeshi’s anger was a dizzying, spreading pain that radiated through the nerves in his chest like broken ribs. It was anger at Ozawa, whose demon chased them away like it was nothing, at Yuji and Kazuya, who looked at him after they all retreated to safety with concern that he just wanted to throw back in their faces, and at himself, for being stupid enough to think things could be different this time. 

They never stood a chance. Ozawa was frail, older than Takeshi though he’d be, but his demon more than made up for his apparent weakness. None of them traded more than a few blows before Kazuya shouted for them to retreat. They fell back, and Takeshi was first to run. What else could he do? If the other two couldn’t do anything there was no way he stood a chance. Yuji was more skilled with magic, both healing magic and offensive spells that half the time he was too chickenshit to even use. And Kazuya, as small and awkward as he was, had learned swords and knives quicker than Takeshi could ever hope to, and he was starting to get the hang of guns as well. And he had a COMP. That even after the diamond realm and the nightmare Tokyo they were stuck in he still wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t fast enough, just plain wasn’t enough, festered like an old wound that’d never come close to healing. 

Neither the demon nor any of Ozawa’s other goons followed them. Apparently he didn’t think they were worth the effort (and the bastard’s wheezing laugh as they ran away grated in Takeshi’s memory until it felt like his ears were bleeding.) Still, they put as much distance between themselves and Ozawa as possible, only stopping after an hour’s walk away to decide what to do next. Kazuya insisted that they couldn’t give up, that they had to go back again as soon as possible. From the set of his shoulders and his grip on his sword he wanted to run back and fight again at that very moment. Takeshi, sore and heartsick, told him to stop being an idiot before he got them all killed fighting someone they couldn’t win against to free someone they didn’t even know. They needed to cut their losses and move on. Kazuya shot back that he gave up too easily, that he always did whenever things got difficult, and Takeshi got close to just slugging him, unofficial team leader or not.

Yuji got them to back down and keep moving, but Takeshi stayed mad the rest of the day, glaring at Kazuya’s back and shrugging off an attempt by Yuji to heal him with a muttered _Don’t fucking touch me._ They finally found what used to be a shed just as the sun was sinking away. It was cramped, with a gaping hole in the roof and one of the walls looking close to caving in, but it was something. 

Kazuya was fildling with his COMP by the entrance when Takeshi went to take over watch that night, flashlight on the ground by his feet. There were bags under his eyes deep as bruises, visible even in the dark when he looked up at Takeshi. 

Kazuya left, though not before staring at him in that unnerving, sad way he did sometimes, and Takeshi took up watch. He stared out at the dark and tried to ignore the itch on the back of his neck like it was staring back at him.

His father, Ozawa, demons, they always beat him down and pushed him around and he could never fight back. He couldn’t see it changing anytime soon, unless he did something to change himself, and drastically. 

In the dead quiet of the ruined city, the sound of Kazuya’s breath gradually slowing and deepening with the onset of sleep was unnaturally loud. Heartbeat pounding in his ears, Takeshi ducked back into the shed, moving around any wood or rocks that could give away his presence until he stood over Kazuya. He was curled up under a blanket along the wall perpendicular to Yuji. Takeshi was lucky he’d fallen asleep so quickly. Kazuya cried at night sometimes. He was never loud about it, never said anything about it, but it was hard to miss the red eyes and scratchy voice in the mornings. His face was clear of tear tracks, but his brows were still furrowed in worry and pain, even in slumber. His COMP was turned off and within arms reach. Takeshi reached out, careful that the cloth on his sleeves didn’t rub together and make any noise. He didn’t dare even breathe. At any moment he expected Kazuya or Yuji to wake up and ask him what he was doing, and Takeshi would give some half-assed excuse, then go back to keeping watch and forget about the whole thing.

But they didn’t, so he took the COMP and left.

Dawn was just beginning to drag itself over the horizon, premature beams of light doing nothing except somehow making the shadows even darker. It wasn’t a problem for Takeshi – they’d been to a nearby Cathedral of Shadows a few times already, and once at night. He knew the way.

The COMP was constricting and unfamiliar around his forearm, its weight throwing off his balance and making him feel lopsided. He shifted the gun slung across his back to the shoulder opposite the COMP, but it didn’t help. Every few steps his thoughts wandered to the two people left sleeping unawares behind him, who grew more distant with every step. 

But the device hummed with arcane electrical energies that blended together into whispering promises of real freedom, real power. He didn’t once look back.

**Author's Note:**

> He did not think this through very well.
> 
> Feel free to check out my tumblr, I've got some other writing stuff over there. ancestrallizard.tumblr.com


End file.
